"As some of you may know, we made the record with John Congleton in June of last year. We believe that it is our best work so far. The Christmas Island players are Sean, Ben, Preston, Deacon and Mark as well as Dylan Cook on mandolin with guest vocals by Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu)
We commissioned the wonderful Suzanne Falk to make the album cover, a photorealistic painting of a diorama she and Sean made together. The title of the painting is: "Everything we were ever looking for was there all along".
This album represents a special kind of growth for us. A growth fertilized by the joy of collaboration and a revitalized appreciation of art and process. We are very excited to share it with you, thank you for your patience."
-from Andrew Jackson Jihad's facebook page
Christmas Island, the 5th album proper from Phoenix, Arizona’s Andrew Jackson Jihad, is a little bit silly, a little bit serious. It’s a record that’s irreverent yet somber, full of humor and full of pathos, its twelve songs combining the two to create a record that truly cuts right to the bone of the human condition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFz2J6S0J0c
Here’s another song from the album. I like it even better than Children of God.